Traffic department mulls cashless fine collection

The traffic department of Gurgaon police is considering adopting digital modes of payment to collect fines from traffic offenders.

If all goes per plan, traffic violators will be made to pay fine amounts through electronic data capture or debit/credit card swipe machines or through digital wallet services such as Paytm.(Parveen Kumar/HT)

The traffic department of Gurgaon police is considering adopting digital modes of payment to collect fines from traffic offenders.

If all goes per plan, traffic violators will be made to pay fine amounts through electronic data capture or debit/credit card swipe machines or through digital wallet services such as Paytm.

Confirming the plans to adopt cashless modes of payment, Y Puran Kumar, joint commissioner of police and in-charge of Gurgaon police’s traffic department, said, “We are in touch with the Point of Sale division of the State Bank of India to procure the machines. We hope to get them soon.”

He added that for now, two machines will be used at the challan counters at the traffic tower in Sushant Lok.

The department will also start handing over swipe machines to on-duty police personnel to recover fines from violators on the spot. The machines that were purchased long ago are lying defunct as of now.

In addition, the traffic department is in touch with Paytm to open an account in which traffic offenders can deposit fine amounts.

“We are in the process of getting a Paytm account for this purpose as well. The idea is to switch to digital payments eventually,” Kumar said.

The demonetisation of high-value currency notes on November 8 had affected the enforcement drive of the traffic department. In the absence of cash, traffic offenders have been submitting documents such as licence and registration certificates to the police to recover them at a later date after paying the fine.

On an average, the traffic department issues 2,500 challans across the city, with a majority of violators paying fines on the spot. However, since the demonetisation came into effect, a majority of the fines are paid at a later date. Around 1,000 challans are being issued on a given day since November 8, said an official, adding that the scrapping of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes has resulted in considerable reduction in revenue.

The traffic department started the traffic rule enforcement drive in August and had generated over ₹2 crore in fines from erring drivers between August 17 and October 23.